The present invention is directed to emergency floatation devices, in general, and more particularly to emergency floatation devices for supporting an aircraft on a body of water.
The use of floatation devices for buoyantly supporting a helicopter on a body of water has been prevalent for many years. Some helicopters are equipped with fixed utility floats. Others are equipped with inflatable floatation bags that are disposed deflated upon the landing skids. These floatation bags are inflated in order to support the helicopter when ditching or landing in water is anticipated. Typically, the floatation bags are fixedly attached to the helicopter landing skids and packed tightly within flexible fabric covers. The floatation bags are only inflated if an emergency landing on water is expected. Although conventional helicopter floatation bags can save lives, they still suffer from a variety of shortcomings, some of which are discussed below.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,466 discloses a helicopter undercarriage including a pair of floatation bags attached to the landing skids. The preferred embodiment discloses the floatation bags disposed underneath the landing skids. A drawback with this configuration is that the floatation bags will likely be ruined if the helicopter lands on a muddy marsh area, e.g. instead of on open water. Further, since the floatation bags completely surround the landing skid, they will become worn and possibly damaged during each normal landing. Another drawback is that including only one floatation bag per landing skid does not provide ample buoyancy. A wider footprint of buoyancy is necessary to adequately support a helicopter, which may weigh over 30,000 pounds. Providing a wider footprint of buoyancy adds stability to the floating helicopter to prevent capsizing and raises the helicopter up preventing destruction of its electronics due to water damage.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,415, which discloses a helicopter floatation pack disposed on top of the landing skids. A drawback with this configuration is that the floatation pack does not adequately raise the helicopter above the water line such that all of the helicopter""s electronics would be destroyed during an emergency landing. In addition, this configuration also suffers from an insufficiently wide footprint of buoyancy and capsizing is, therefore, a distinct possibility.
In view of these shortcomings, there exists a need for a helicopter floatation device that employs a wider footprint of buoyancy to both add stability to the floating helicopter to prevent capsizing and raise the helicopter up to prevent destruction of electronics due to water damage. Further, there is a need for a helicopter floatation device that employs floatation bags having a wider footprint of buoyancy, yet does not sacrifice durability by permanently positioning the floatation bags underneath the helicopter.
Any publications that are discussed above should not be taken as an admission that the publications are prior art.
One aspect of the present invention involves an emergency floatation system for attachment to a helicopter landing skid including an elongate girt dimensioned to be attached to the landing skid and a plurality of floats attached to the elongate girt. The plurality of floats are adapted to be converted from a packed configuration to an deployed configuration, and at least one of the plurality of floats extends beneath the elongate girt when the plurality of floats is in the deployed configuration.
A further aspect of the present invention involves an emergency floatation system for attachment to a helicopter landing skid including a plurality of floats, wherein the plurality of floats includes a first float positioned above the elongate girt and second and third floats extending beneath the elongate girt when the plurality of floats is in the deployed configuration.
Another aspect of the present invention involves an emergency floatation system for attachment to a helicopter landing skid including a plurality of floats, wherein the plurality of floats includes a small first float and a pair of larger floats, wherein the pair of larger floats are mirror images of each other with respect to a vertical plane along the longitudinal axis of the elongate girt.
Yet another aspect of the present invention involves an emergency floatation system for attachment to a helicopter landing skid including an elongate girt dimensioned to be attached to the landing skid and a plurality of floats attached to the elongate girt, wherein the elongate girt has a C-shaped cross-section adapted to fit over the landing skid, wherein the elongate girt is attached to the landing skid with a plurality of bolts, and wherein the plurality of floats is attached to the elongate girt using an adhesive such as glue.